Hey - throwing out a question for those Simply Scripters who have taken the plunge to make their own films:

1) What hardware do you consider essential/recommend?  IE: camera, mike, etc...
2) What video editing software do you prefer: FCP, Avid, Premiere... and why? (And what hardware do you run it on?)

I'm sure there's a major learning curve on all of this.  But still - a primer from those who have already learned the hard way would be absolutely fab! :)

Heya Janet,

1. Camera kit, audio kit, lighting kit.

The camera is heavily dependent on your specific needs, and of course, the budget. In terms of DSLRs, Nikon seems to be the frontrunner at the moment, but there's lots that's good about Canon, too. This seems like a pretty helpful primer for thinking about cameras: http://dslrvideoshooter.com/best-dslr-for-video/

One important thing in the above article that's mentioned, but barely, is the focus assist. DSLRs still aren't all that friendly towards the basic mechanics of film, and both the zoom ring and the focus ring are still obviously intended for still photography. So if you want to be doing tricky focus pulls or zooms, some sort of assist will be more or less necessary for that. Our rig on Truth had both a focus and zoom assist, and we never could have pulled off some of the follows and zooms that we did if it weren't for that.

Keep in mind that the lenses that you buy will also have a major effect on what you're able to achieve with any given camera. Also keep in mind that there's firmware available for certain lower-end cameras that allows them to achieve higher functionality. For example, Magic Lantern can really change the way you work with a cheaper camera like a t2i: http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lantern_Firmware_Wiki

And of course you'll want a tripod, unless you're feeling particularly 90s indie. No specific suggestion here -- the more expensive, the better, unfortunately.

Audio is even harder, haha. Again, this really depends on your needs. You're going to want to run dual-system sound, and you're going to want a nice boom, but after that it's basically a matter of researching to your specific needs. NoFilmSchool has a reasonable intro to audio: http://nofilmschool.com/dslr/audio/

Lights are important. Not necessarily professional film lights, but lights that you can use to create a dramatic effect and that are a suitable colour temperature -- lots of standard room/house/street lighting looks super ugly when you shoot it, especially if you're mixing that light with your own. Something else you'll want to think about here is diffusion and gels -- a lot of indie lighting tends to involve controlling existing light, since one isn't generally throwing up 100 foot silks and so on.

Are there equipment houses in your area? Watch for inventory dumps or going-out-of-business sales or the like. Lots of great grip and lighting stuff to be found for quite cheap, sometimes. And professional lights really are worth it if you can find them at the right price.

Other little thoughts on things that are not necessary, but very helpful (this is assuming a "real" shoot, with 12 hours days kinda thing):

Lots of extension cord. Lots of tape, all kinds. Garbage bags, a cooler, water bottles, cleaning equipment, winter gloves and work gloves, heating pads, tissues, gum.

2. Avid is the best software. Premiere is the friendliest. Final Cut Pro X is utter garbage, but 7 still holds up nicely. Either of the latter two will get you everything you need and offer a ton of flexibility, in my opinion. They are definitely demanding programs in terms of your hardware. That said, they will work on relatively "slow" computers, you'll just spend a lot of time waiting during the editing process (sadly, this will be true no matter what, though). I believe all three companies offer free trials...that's probably the best way to go.

…and may I also say that we eagerly anticipate your upcoming film! ;D

Hey Heretic -

Great links and info here - thanks!!  Re: equipment houses in this area.  Well, I'm NYC based.  So - I imagine so.  :P  I'm also considering taking a course in software editing to get up to speed.  There are film schools here, of course.  And I'm not an utter newbie - I have a solid Adobe Photoshop Foundation, and way back when certified in both Maya 3d and Softimage....

Quoted from Heretic …and may I also say that we eagerly anticipate your upcoming film! ;D

Whoa, Nellie!  Though - hopefully yes...  :P

Nice. If you check out trials of Premiere and FCP, I think you'll see that they're both super intuitive…if you're generally comfortable working with more complex programs like Photoshop and Maya, you might find that you slip into the workflow pretty easily, even without an editing course.

Not that a course would be bad, obviously.

Don't forget good catering. If you don't feed your crew well, they won't be any good to you no matter what kind of equipment you have. Not a joke.

Anyway, I won't go into specifics as I've been out of the game for a while and Chris has provided very good stuff to go on. I will mention, however, not to underestimate/skimp on audio equipment. Bad audio is one of the quickest ways to kill your film and fixing botched audio is EXTREMELY difficult.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of a good crew, especially if you're just starting out. Some of these guys have a lot of wisdom, both in terms of gear and software as well as the general filmmaking process. The human element is an integral part of filmmaking in addition to the technical.

Was going to chime in, but you have already had some great advice here :)

If you don't have any experience in certain areas of film production, I would also highly recommend finding someone who does (Stage32 is great for that; there are some really talented people on that site willing to work for expenses and credit), as nothing screams 'amateur' worse than, for example, badly composed shots or poorly edited scenes :)

In the past, I've used a Canon 5D, a set of mid-range Canon lenses, a shoulder support/ rig thing for the camera (prefer that versus static, tripod shots), a mid-range Sennheiser mic and boom and then edited the footage on Premiere which, in my opinion, is vastly superior to FCP. However, it is more complex so will take a bit more time to learn.

Poor/ no colour grading can also sink a project fast, so I would recommend finding someone who is good at that. I'm OK at grading footage, but whenever I have paid a professional to grade the footage instead, I have always been a lot more satisfied with how the footage looks.

As Heretic said, there are loads of different 'hacks' that you can download to enhance the footage that you capture with DSLRs (such as Magic Lantern, which allows you to shoot 24fps), which are great.

All the best and if you have any other q's I will do my best to help :)

Awesome - and thanks again to everyone so far.... James, Toby and Heretic!  

I'm going to bone up on the equipment details via the links supplied - cameras, audio, etc. Given my lack of experience with such things, my first gut reaction is to focus on the software editing and see what my proficiency can be - pulling in others for the rest (at least at first.)  For instance, there's a production team that'll be doing one of Phil's shorts soon.  If the end result is good (which, based on what I've seen - it will be) I'll see about recruiting them for more...  And getting more involved with that end as my comfort level improves.

**About the hardware for editing.  Say I go for a PC based system with Premiere - what should I shoot for, that doesn't break the bank but doesn't render at molasses speeds?!?  :P

Janet, unfortunately I don't have too much experience with what components are needed to run Premiere Pro, as I edit with my friend on his ridiculously good computer (he initially purchased it for his music studio, but has since branched into film-based work as well). So because I have that at my disposal, I've never thought to look into that too much.

I will, however, ask him for you :)

In the meantime, this may be useful:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/878520

Toby -

Thanks - no rush, but looking forward to what your friend has to say!  (I swear, I woulda checked out the Adobe requirements page too...eventually!)  (Insert embarrassed look here) :P

I'm actually kind of happy we got a thread like this.  

I've been cultivating ideas for an ultra-low budget film (along the lines of Evil Dead/Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Last House on the Left) for the past couple months.

I have a location and friends willing to participate.  I just need the equipment and a screenplay.

It's always nice to hear that there are others wanting to get involved in the actual production side of filmmaking :D Have you done anything before, Reap?

(P.s. Your name change confused me to no end!)

haha, no, I haven't.

Quoted from Guest I'm actually kind of happy we got a thread like this.

Me too.  I'm actually going to shoot a one man short this weekend if I get the time.  

I'm using the following:

Canon t3i
GoPro Hero 3 Silver
Sony Movie Studio Platinum Suite 12
ICD-PX312 voice recorder
Cheap Radio Shack Mic and a Lav

I'm just going to shoot the footage this weekend and then work on the foley, voice over, and score as time permits.

I still need to learn about color correction/grading and sound effects, so hopefully it all doesn't turn out to be one big turd.  

Time will tell.

Jordan

If you wanna see your screenplay on screen - you gotta learn to direct, and probably not be bashful about putting some skin in the game as producer, too.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsBznn8D13zOdGh4SThyS1pFRHgxMWUtZVlDR1N3eUE&usp=drive_web#gid=1

Code Wr = Writer Dir = Director Pr = Producer cX = Co-Writer or Co-Director Almost all of these have multiple producers, so an "X" in the "Pr" column likely means the writer, co-writer, director, and/or co-director are among many others as the film's producer. XY | X | Y = indicates the co-writer was director, and the other co-writer was producer XY | XY | X or Y = indicates the co-writers were also co-directors, but only the other co-writer was producer XY | XY | XY = indicates the co-writers were also co-directors and producers X | Y | XY = indicates the writer and separate director were also producers

Again: Peddling spec screenplays is for rubes. :lol:


And I think it's safe to say this applies to direct-to-video/VOD/youtube as well.

I just spoke about this on another site. I'm teaming up with a Director, cameraman, sound operator and music producer to do a short next year. With a mind to gaining funding for a feature.

Directing is hard... you can't really just learn it on the hop, IMO. You really have to know what you're doing to direct everyone and everything at once. Same as working a camera... it ain't easy. Nor is making music. Come to think of it, neither is acting.

Using friends isn't a good idea, IMO. It will look a mess. Unless they are actor friends, of course. Even many of those, bleh.

That's why casting is important. Believe it or not there are plenty of actors willing to work for credit and their dinner, expenses, whatever. You do a casting call, they turn up and apply for the parts. You choose your stars.

Then there's editing. Getting every scene to look the same, cinematic-wise. Colour grading, etc. Not easy when you don't know what you're doing.

Any one of those stages messing up will make a film not worth watching before we ever get to the actual story.

Quoted from Nomad Me too.  I'm actually going to shoot a one man short this weekend if I get the time.   I'm using the following: Canon t3i GoPro Hero 3 Silver Sony Movie Studio Platinum Suite 12 ICD-PX312 voice recorder Cheap Radio Shack Mic and a Lav I'm just going to shoot the footage this weekend and then work on the foley, voice over, and score as time permits. I still need to learn about color correction/grading and sound effects, so hopefully it all doesn't turn out to be one big turd.   Time will tell. Jordan

by the way, how did all this go??   :)

Hi there, I've just started film making so here's something on sound that wont cost you a fortune. I got a Zoom H4n,  it's good on it's own but it depends if you can get it near enough the actors without getting it in the shot. If you do get one of these remember and get a dead cat to go with it as it picks up wind noises pretty easy. It also has 2 XLR imputs so you can plug in say a Rode NTG2 . The Zoom has heaps of functions so you have to do a fair bit reading up but worth putting the time in. Hope this helps :)

I forgot to say the Zoom comes in at about £250 thats about $400

Quoted from Guest by the way, how did all this go??   :)

It went well.  I put on my "Tony Scott" red hat and went to work.  

I knew in theory what it takes to film something, but when it came down to actually filming it, I felt like a bumbling fool at first.

I have a treatment for my film but I still haven't written the actual script yet, so I drew up some rudimentary storyboards just to make sure I got the shots I needed.

Once I knew what shots I needed, I assigned camera positions to all the shots that were filmed at the same location so I didn't waste time moving the camera.

I got my first experience with the weather affecting my shoot.  It just happened to rain the day I was shooting and since I was borrowing a friends lens I didn't want to risk it in the wet weather to get the one outdoor shot I need.

I did use my GoPro with the waterproof housing to get some establishing shots while it was sprinkling outside, but I wasn't about to wander around with my Canon in the rain.

I learned the value of a wide angle lens when shooting indoors.  Even with a 16mm lens I still had to move a lot of furniture to compose the shot correctly.  If I had a full sensor on my camera I may have been able to get away with using my 18mm zoom lens, but the aperture only goes to f/4.

I learned the value of lighting.  With only having the clamp light and whatever practicals that were available in the house, I had to come up with some creative lighting situations.  I was forced to leave the aperture wide open on a lot of the shots just to let enough light in.  I may be able to fix some of it in post, but I'm not there yet.

Since I'm also "acting" in the film, I learned the difficulty of maintaining continuity between the shots, e.g. holding the phone in my right hand, stepping off with my right foot, pushing off with my left hand, going down the stairs left foot first.  I know that when editing I need the shots to match, so this whole continuity thing is a real pain.  Luckily I have an internal metronome, so I'm pretty sure my timing is similar between the shots.

I still need to get a handfull of shots, and then I'm off to edit.  Once I have a rough cut I'll record sound.  Mainly footsteps, bangs, growls, grunts, drips, cars, planes, voice over, and then score it.

Color correction will probably be last just to make sure I get the right feel, but I need to learn to color correct first.

Once it's all done, if I'm not too embarrassed by it all, I'll post it for you to see.

Jordan

Cool beans, man.  What's the film about?

It's a zombie film about a guy who is trapped in his house, his zombie family locked in the garage, and his internal struggle to go on.  More or less.

Jordan

Sounds badass.  8)

Yeah, sounds good.

Quoted from RayW Again: Peddling spec screenplays is for rubes.

What exactly is a rube? Not too sure what you're trying to peddle here, but half of the stuff you're going on about - well you're looking at 37% for your Anchor Bay films, so care to holla out for the other two thirds? The further down you go, the more likely you're to encompass multi-roles: Waffling on about lo-end production companies isn't a definition of industry mechanics. Are you just trying to put people off? Almost everything you say is negative - can't do this cos of that; can't do that cos of this. If you know so much then why don't you give people a helping hand - some kind of encouragement - reasons for in instead of out? I'm just glad there's enough people out there with some spirit who aren't going to be put off by you.

I just googled and it says they are country bumpkins. When I read it, I just skimmed over it, assumed it meant something bad and that was that. Now I've learned something. Not quite sure how much use it will be to me, but you never know.

I know what he means though, to some extent. Peddling spec's is hard, hard work. Not many sell. They are often little better than calling cards that showcase our ability. Despite the, most likely, utter pointlessness of it all, it is something that we have to do.